Boardman’s softball team participates in Federal League

A slugfest took place at the Boardman High School softball field this past week in a federal league contest between two teams that have been fairly split in competition in the recent past.

The first two innings found the rival teams deadlocked at 0 points. In the Spartan half of the third they would strike with a run to take the lead when Lindsay Soltis would single into right field and Addison Menosky would lay down a sacrifice bunt to move Soltis into scoring position. Melissa Maiorano would walk followed by catcher Miyah Mitchum getting hit by a pitch. The Spartans would score their first run when Anna Saxton walked.

The score would remain 1-0 into the top of the fifth when Uniontown would begin to put pressure on the young Spartan defense. They would score two runs and take a quick 2-1 lead. In their half, Boardman would take the lead 3-2 when Melissa Maiorano would get hit by a pitch and consecutive singles by Mitchum and Saxton would lead to a run scored. Mitchum would score on a two out RBI by freshman Morgan Smith.

In the sixth inning the Blue Streaks would take control of the game scoring three. In the seventh inning, the gates opened and the Spartans committed several errors and found themselves in a 12-4 hole coming to bat in the bottom of the seventh. Boardman would answer with five hits, two walks and two errors to tie the game at 12. The inning was led by a bases clearing double by Saxton. In the eigth inning, Lake would score another run on a Spartan mistake.

The game went to Lake with a final score of 13 to 12.

“I am not sure we were beat by a better team today,” Coach Trell said. “I think we made some young mistakes that cost us the win, but give our girls credit; they didn’t fold when down eight runs in the seventh and came back and gave themselves a chance. I really appreciate the fighting spirit they have and think it will bode well for them come tournament time.”

The Spartans travelled to Twinsburg for a double header contest which would see them lose to the hosts in the opening game, but rally to draw even on the day by beating Warren Harding in the night cap.

The Boardman bats were silent to start the contest, but the host team jumped out to a quick lead by scoring six in the opening inning on a couple hits and a couple errors.

In the third, Boardman would score when Maiorano would walk and Mitchum would reach safely on an error, however the home team would answer the Boardman run with a home-run to lead off the inning.

In the fourth, Nicole Sanfilippo would start the Spartans attempt at a come-back with a triple and Morgan Smith would drive her in, but the Spartan rally would end. At this point, Boardman trailed 8-2.

In the fifth Boardman would again reach home several times. Saxton singled into center to get started followed by Sanfilippo, Smith, Soltis, and Caraballo and a walk to Maiorano would generate three runs and the Spartans narrowed the gap to 8-5, however in the last two at bats, they could only muster one run when Caraballo would double followed by a Maiorano RBI single to left.

Twinsburg would add another run in their part of the sixth to finish it 9-6.

In Twinsburg the Lady Spartan bats would come alive. To start the game, Maiorano would triple into left field and a base hit by Saxton would result in a 1-0 lead for Boardman. Boardman would score again in the third when Maiorano would reach safely on an error and Saxton would sacrifice bunt her into scoring position where Mitchum would single her in, Boardman was off to a short 2-0 lead as Harding would answer with four of their own to take a lead 4-2.

Boardman would answer with four of their own in the fourth when Smith, Soltis, and Hayley Eicher would all reach safely and score. Boardman would score another in the fifth and Harding would add two of their own and the score after five was Boardman 7 and Harding 5.

No scoring would take place in the sixth for either team, but in the seventh the Spartans would score five, when Caraballo, Maiorano, Saxton and Mitchum would all reach base and score on hits and an error. Harding would score four in the seventh, but it would not be enough. The game went to Boardman with a final score of 12-9.

Following Easter Sunday, the Spartans took on the Raiders again on their home field.

The Lady Spartans would score three runs in the third inning led by Saxton, Smith, Sanfilippo and Caraballo. Harding was without a run until the third inning when they would strike with two runs to tighten up the game.

There would be no scoring again until the fifth inning when Harding would tie the game at three, but Boardman would score again when Saxton would double into the gap in center and Smith would walk. Sanfilippo would fly out to right to score. The Spartans led 4-3.

In the sixth, Harding would again tie the score at four when they tallied a run on a double and an error and that would end the Harding scoring on the day. Boardman would tally the winning run in the sixth on a lead-off single by Soltis and a sacrifice bunt by Caraballo moved Soltis to second, a passed ball would move her to third and Eicher would pick up an RBI on a fly out to center.

Junior Kristen Huck registered a seven inning complete game with 10 strike-outs while giving up only four hits. The Spartan bats were led by Saxton, who was three for three, Smith who was two for two and Soltis who was two for three.